Thu, June 14, 2012 9:00 pm at Alwan for the Arts

Warm summer nights, hotter grooves. Alwan for the Arts will open its doors to musicians and lovers of music to attend a weekly Thursday night jam session starting May 31st and continuing through the month of June. The session will be based in improvised music, open to musicians playing in any and all traditions including but not limited to Arab, Jazz, North African, Turkish, Greek, Balkan, Persian, etc. Simple lead sheets/notation may be provided as necessary.

Free admission for performing musicians, $5 covers for others.

The session will be led by Alwan music curator and trumpeter/santur player/vocalist Amir ElSaffar and/or other regular Alwan performers. Please note that Alwan doesn't own a drum set, so percussionists should bring hand percussion. The weekly session will be preceeded by "Arab Grooves," a percussion class focused on rhythms of the Middle East led by Zafer Tawl (read about Arab Grooves here) as well as Iraqi Folk and Popular Songs, a class focused on learning to sing and play light-hearted, rhythmic songs from different regions of Iraq (read about Iraqi Folk and Popular Songs here)